Roundup

TPMDC Morning Roundup

Eric Kleefeld | October 16, 2009, 9:00AM

Obama Teaming Up With Bush 41, Promoting Volunteerism
President Obama is teaming up today with former President George H.W. Bush, to promote the cause of community service at Texas A&M University. The event at the conservative school will also be protested by the college chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas. "I actually did get an invitation," said chapter chairman Justin Pullman, age 19, "but I had to decline due to our protest."

Obama's Day Ahead
President Obama will depart from San Francisco at 12:35 p.m. ET, arriving in Houston at 3:55 p.m. ET. He will attend a Point of Light Forum at Texas A&M University, at 5:50 p.m. ET, hosted by former President George H.W. Bush. He will depart from Houston at 8:25 p.m. ET, arriving back at the White House at 11:15 p.m. ET.

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Topics: ACORN, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, George H. W. Bush, Harry Reid, Joe Biden, Mike Pence, NV-SEN, Pres '12, Roundup

ACORN

Bachmann Grills Bernanke About ACORN (No Joke)

Eric Kleefeld | October 1, 2009, 4:57PM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) seems to be developing a one-track mind. At a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee, Bachmann asked Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about...ACORN?

To be fair, Bachmann also asked about one of her other pet issues, the threat of a one-world currency replacing the dollar -- which does actually bear a relationship to the questions of monetary policy.

But here she has the man who runs our country's whole money supply, right in front of her and required to take her questions, and this is what she asks about?

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Topics: ACORN, Ben Bernanke, Michele Bachmann

Barack Obama

TPMDC Sunday Roundup

Eric Kleefeld | September 20, 2009, 1:04PM

Obama: Health Care Bills "About 80 Percent" Agreed On
Appearing on Meet The Press, President Obama laid out his principle of health care reform: Of getting prices and premiums down, of being deficit-neutral, increasing competition, and guaranteeing coverage of pre-existing conditions. "And I actually think that we've agreed to about 80 percent of that if you look at all the bills that are coming through all these committees," said Obama. "The key is now just to narrow those differences. And if I don't feel like it is a good deal for the American people, then I won't sign a bill."

Obama: GOP "Not Going To Support Anything, For Political Reasons"
Appearing on Univision's Al Punto, President Obama said that Republican opposition to his health care proposals is partly political. "Well, part of it is ... that the opposition has made a decision," said Obama. "They are just not going to support anything, for political reasons."

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Topics: ACORN, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Health Care, Michael Steele, NY-GOV

Barack Obama

TPMDC Morning Roundup

Eric Kleefeld | September 15, 2009, 9:07AM

Obama Privately Calls Kanye West A Jackass; ABC Apologizes For Publishing It
During an interview with CNBC, President Obama called Kanye West a "jackass" for his behavior at the MTV Video Music Awards -- which ABC News then published on Twitter, even though that was intended to have been an off-the-record comment. ABC has now apologized: "This was done before our editorial process had been completed. That was wrong. We apologize to the White House and CNBC and are taking steps to ensure that it will not happen again."

Obama's Day Ahead
President Obama will depart form the White House at 9 a.m. ET, arriving at 10:15 a.m. ET at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Ohio. At 10:40 a.m. ET, he will host a roundtable discussion with workers at the Lordstown Complex General Motors Plant in Warren, Ohio, and he will deliver remarks on the economy at 11:10 a.m. ET. He will depart from Warren at 11:50 a.m. ET, arriving at 12:20 p.m. ET in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He will speak at 1:40 p.m. ET at the AFL-CIO Convention, then leave at 2:45 p.m. ET for Philadelphia. At 4:10 p.m. ET, he will speak at a fundraiser for Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), and also at another Specter fundraiser at 6 p.m. ET. He will depart form Philadelphia International Airpot at 6:55 p.m. ET, arriving back at the White House at 7:55 p.m. ET.

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Topics: ACORN, Arlen Specter, Barack Obama, Health Care, Iraq, Joe Biden, Joe Wilson, PA-SEN, Senate '10, Ted Kennedy

Barack Obama

TPMDC Saturday Roundup

Eric Kleefeld | September 12, 2009, 1:01PM

Obama: Losing Insurance Can Happen To Anybody
In this week's YouTube address, President Obama warned that losing health insurance is something that can happen to anybody -- and according to a new report from the Treasury Department, it will happen to half of all Americans under 65, unless something is done about it:

"If you're under the age of 21 today, chances are more than half that you'll find yourself uninsured at some point in that time. And more than one-third of Americans will go without coverage for longer than one year," said Obama. "I refuse to allow that future to happen. In the United States of America, no one should have to worry that they'll go without health insurance - not for one year, not for one month, not for one day. And once I sign my health reform plan into law - they won't."

Cornyn: Instead of More Speeches, Obama Should Listen To Republicans
In this week's Republican address, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) praised President Obama for taking a bipartisan approach to the Afghanistan War -- and attacked Obama's health care proposals:

"He's paid lip service to bipartisanship while rejecting the ideas that would build bipartisan support," said Cornyn. "As a result, the President has alienated not only independents and divided his own party, but Republicans as well. And, he's ignored the clear wishes of the American people. So the President gave another big speech this week to try to turn his numbers around. But instead of talking, the President and Congressional Democrats should spend a little more time listening."

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Topics: ACORN, Afghanistan, Al Franken, Barack Obama, Census, Health Care, Joe Wilson, John Cornyn, MA-SEN, Tea Party, Tom Harkin

Michele Bachmann

Bachmann: "Don't Let Them Palinize Me!"

Eric Kleefeld | August 13, 2009, 3:30PM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has a message for her supporters in a new fundraising letter: Don't let the media do to her what they did to Sarah Palin -- "Don't let them Palinize me!"

"With Governor Palin taking a well-deserved step out of the spotlight, it appears that I may be absorbing even more of the liberals' scorn," says Bachmann. "And, I'd really appreciate your support so that I can defend myself against their attacks. Click here to make a donation!"

She later adds: "But just as they did with Sarah Palin, the more I talk about the issues, the more they attack with below-the-belt personal hits. In fact, yesterday, a Minnesota paper gave a full column to a hit piece on one of my kids!" This would appear to be a reference to the joking stories about her son joining Teach For America, after she'd called AmeriCorps a "re-education camp" and that she would be very concerned about her own children ever joining.

The letter cites Urban Dictionary, an open-source site that contains a mix of definitions from across the political spectrum. The word "Palinize" has mostly negative definitions, but a few pro-Palin ones about being twisted and distorted by the liberal media -- and those are the definitions that Bachmann cites. However, the letter did pick out one definition that might actually be anti-Palin (and filled with dramatic irony, given the selective citation): "To exaggerate the truth or lie by omission."

Check out the full e-mail after the jump.

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Topics: ACORN, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin

Brad Miller

Tea Party Rage -- Rage Against The Dying Of The Right

Eric Kleefeld | August 10, 2009, 11:11AM

North Carolina Tea Party Revolution has posted videos from their big protest outside Rep. Brad Miller's (D-NC) office on Friday, which they claim had 695 attendees -- and the videos sure to tell you a lot about the nature of right-wing anger right now.

Miller has not been holding town halls, but instead scheduled a meeting at his Raleigh office with a small group of constituents who were also conservative activists. The Tea Party then gathered outside:

These people really do see America as a place that has now been taken over by an illegitimate regime -- note the signs like "Liberal Government + Liberal Media = Tyranny," and "United Socialist States of America." Plus there's a defiance of the home-made shirts of a cracked ACORN logo, with the name spelled backwards to make a new acronym: "Not Really 4 Obama's Communist America." If the government isn't conservative, it's tyrannical.

And just look at this example, of a man saying that our children have been "enslaved" by a $115 trillion debt -- complete with baby dolls in striped prisoner outfits and chains:

"And we're tired of the government's saying that we're paid and that we're organized. We are not. We're everyday citizens," the man explained "We get together on Internet Web sites to figure out where things are going on, and what's going on -- just like the other side does. And we're sick and tired of this, we gotta take back America now."

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Topics: ACORN, Brad Miller, Health Care, Tea Party

Health Care

Anti-Health Care Reform Protester Encourages Physical Violence, Use Of Firearms

Brian Beutler | August 7, 2009, 2:20PM

Based on the news that health care events are edging into violence, an anti-health care reform protester in New Mexico named Scott Oskay is calling on his hundreds of online followers to bring firearms to town halls, and to 'badly hurt' SEIU and ACORN counter protesters.

Popularized in part by conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, the hashtag symbol he's using, #iamthemob, has gone viral on twitter, appearing several times a minute according to a recent search.

Anti-reform activists have scheduled a protest outside SEIU Missouri offices tomorrow, and officials there are taking these threats seriously.

Late update: Looks like they're also getting death threats by phone.

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Topics: ACORN, Health Care, SEIU, Tea Party

Michele Bachmann

GOP Congressmen Condemn Bachmann's Call For Defying The Census

Eric Kleefeld | July 1, 2009, 3:39PM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) appears to be getting just a little too wacky for some of her Republican colleagues -- particularly on her new crusade to get people to refuse to completely fill out their census forms.

Bachmann has said she won't provide any more information than the number of people in her home, stating that this is all the Constitution requires and she won't let her personal information fall into the hands of ACORN. (Note: ACORN will not be collecting census data. Also, the law clearly says that the action Bachmann advocates is punishable by a fine of up to $5,000.)

Now three very conservative Congressman -- Reps. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), and John Mica (R-FL) -- have put out a statement: "Every elected representative in this country should feel a responsibility to encourage full participation in the census. To do otherwise is to advocate for a smaller share of federal funding for our constituents. Boycotting the constitutionally-mandated census is illogical, illegal and not in the best interest of our country."

"Furthermore, a boycott opens the door for partisans to statistically adjust census results," the statement warns.

Fun fact: Many observers think Minnesota could lose a seat in the House after the 2010 Census. And of Minnesota's eight current House members, which one do you think might be in the most danger of being turned out of office when the lines are redrawn?

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Topics: ACORN, Census, Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann

Bachmann Warns Of Link Between Census, Japanese Internment

Eric Kleefeld | June 25, 2009, 11:00AM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is taking her refusal to fully fill out her Census form, which is a crime punishable by a $5,000 fine, to a whole new level: Invoking the memory of the Japanese internment during World War II, and the evil role that the Census played in it!

During an interview this morning on Fox News, Bachmann mostly focused on the danger of her personal information falling into the hands of the dreaded menace ACORN. But at one point, she made a very interesting appeal to history:

"Take this into consideration. If we look at American history, between 1942 and 1947, the data that was collected by the Census Bureau was handed over to the FBI and other organizations at the request of President Roosevelt, and that's how the Japanese were rounded up and put into the internment camps," said Bachmann. "I'm not saying that that's what the Administration is planning to do, but I am saying that private personal information that was given to the Census Bureau in the 1940s was used against Americans to round them up, in a violation of their constitutional rights, and put the Japanese in internment camps."

At this point even Megyn Kelly, who had been gladly dishing out the anti-ACORN talk along with Bachmann, had to take a step back and raise the point that the Japanese internment was a long time ago and we haven't had such abuses since then.

For some context on how this fits into Bachmann's overall worldview, keep in mind that she's previously warned of the threat of "re-education camps" where young people would be indoctrinated into the government's official philosophy.

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Topics: ACORN, Census, Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann

Bachmann Vows To Shun ACORN Influence, Leave Census Form Partly Blank (Note: This Is Illegal)

Eric Kleefeld | June 17, 2009, 4:36PM

In an interview with the Washington Times, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) vowed that in the upcoming census, she and her family will refuse to answer personal questions on the forms beyond the number of people in her household -- which is, in fact, against the law:

"I know for my family the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home," said Bachmann, who warned of corrupt ACORN involvement in the census. "We won't be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn't require any information beyond that."

In fact, as a Census Bureau spokeswoman told the Washington Times, what Bachmann just announced she would do is a crime punishable by a fine of up to $5,000. But hey, there's something to be said for civil disobedience.

(Via Think Progress)

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Topics: ACORN, Census, Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann

Barney Frank Faces Down Bachmann On ACORN Funding

Eric Kleefeld | May 19, 2009, 4:24PM

Michele Bachmann faced off with Barney Frank on the Lou Dobbs show last night over Bachmann's proposal to strip ACORN of any federal funds, by denying money to groups who have any members that become indicted.

In the battle of wits, the winner was...Barney Frank:

Frank pointed out that far from being a bunch of Democratic cronies, ACORN's housing work received a lot of funding from the Bush Administration, as part of the general Republican idea of contracting out community activities instead of growing the federal workforce. As for the substance of Bachmann's amendment, he argued that the low bar of criminal accusation against individual members would give too much power to a prosecutor to go after a group -- and could affect folks such as AIPAC, whose indicted members later saw all the charges against them dropped, or even the House Republicans when Tom DeLay was indicted.

"I'm sorry, Michele, why do you keep interrupting?" an exasperated Frank said at one point. "I'm sorry you don't like what I'm saying."

And by the way, this was posted on Bachmann's own YouTube account, much like another awkward TV appearance from two-and-a-half weeks ago.

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Topics: ACORN, Barney Frank, Michele Bachmann

Michael Steele

ACORN Responds to Steele Screed

Brian Beutler | April 9, 2009, 3:12PM

Earlier today, my colleague Eric Kleefeld flagged an RNC fundraising letter, written by our old friend Michael Steele, in which he floats the possibility that Barack Obama, in concert with ACORN, will try to rig the 2010 Census in order to rob Republicans of electoral votes and Congressional seats in 2012. Eric dispatched with that...thinking...very nicely, but now ACORN has weighed in for itself. "I am disappointed in Mr. Steele's repetition of lies and distortions about our work for crass fundraising purposes." Full response is below the fold.

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Topics: ACORN, Michael Steele

Michael Steele

Steele Fundraising Letter: Obama And ACORN Trying To Rig Census

Eric Kleefeld | April 9, 2009, 10:58AM

Michael Steele is now raising money for the RNC using a familiar set of GOP memes: That Barack Obama and ACORN -- one of the great right-wing bogeymen of 2008, you might recall -- plan to rig the 2010 Census in order to to solidify Democratic control in 2012:

President Obama's old friends from ACORN, the leftist, urban "community" organization with a long history of promoting vote fraud, has been chosen by the Administration as a "partner" with the Census Bureau to determine population counts in cities around the country.

...

Why is this important? The U.S. population has shifted in the last ten years. States like Illinois, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania (all states Obama won in 2008) have smaller populations, and states like Arizona, Georgia and South Carolina (all states that John McCain carried) have gained population.

The trend illustrates that urban strongholds, which favor Democrats, continue to lose population to more decentralized areas in states more likely to lean Republican.

...

We must not let the Democrats and their radical leftist allies falsify the U.S. Census and manipulate elections in their favor. Our democracy, and the principle of "One Person, One Vote" are in jeopardy.

Now granted, the Congressional reapportionment that will come after the 2010 Census will probably have a slight net shift in favor of states that John McCain won (and individually some blue states will gain, while some red states will lose). On the other hand, keep in mind that Obama won 365 electoral votes last year, and that the net shift will only be in the single digits.

So this whole point is meaningless, because the 2012 Republican nominee will have to actually take a big number of states back into the GOP column, with the reapportionment being nearly immaterial. It's also not true that the blue states have "smaller" populations -- the question is the rate of growth, relative to other states.

Full fundraising e-mail, after the jump.

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Topics: ACORN, Michael Steele

Budget

Will The Grassroots Be Happy With Budget Tweaks?

Brian Beutler | March 26, 2009, 9:52AM

There was minimal rancor yesterday over House and Senate changes to President Obama's budget proposal. In fact, there was almost no rancor at all. Instead, the administration and Harry Reid and conservative Democrats in the Senate seemed all too thrilled with one another.

That will please some liberal grassroots organizations, and should be of particular interest to a campaign called Rebuild and Renew America Now, comprised of over 40 progressive interest groups aligned to usher Obama's budget through the Congress largely unmolested.

David Elliot, communications director for the group USAction, a member of the campaign, says the members (or as many as possible) convene for a daily 10:30 a.m. conference call to discuss budget issues and strategy.

Among their considerations is the crucial role Blue Dogs and conservative Democrats will play in the passage (or blockage) of Obama's agenda. For its part, USAction began airing ads in the districts of conservative Reps. Marion Berry, (D-AR), Allen Boyd, (D-FL), Charlie Melancon (D-LA), Bob Etheridge, (D-NC), and Chet Edwards (D-TX) urging them to "resist special interests and vote for [Obam's budget]. All of them serve on the House Budget Committee. Four of them officially belong to the Blue Dog Caucus.

Similarly, the labor-backed group Americans United for Change (also part of the Renew and Rebuild campaign) went live with ads today in 11 states and Washington D.C. to pressure critics like Kent Conrad and the newly christened Moderate Dems Working Group to support Obama's budget.

These efforts might seem bold and risky, but Elliot says there's little discord within the campaign itself over tactics and organizing. By contrast there is some disagreement within the ranks of a different (somewhat overlapping) umbrella group called Unity '09, which is also dedicated to moving Obama's agenda through Congess. Some Unity participants are much less suspicious of the Blue Dogs and their Senate peers, and have been heavily critical of efforts to pressure them.

As it happens, Conrad released his proposed tweaks to Obama's budget yesterday, and, despite making relatively few substantive changes, he seems to have won for now the support of many of its critics.

Full list of Renew and Rebuild America Now member organizations below the fold.

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Topics: ACORN, Budget, Democrats